Mother, daughter graduate together from Community College
Despite being out of school for decades and losing her parents, an Overbrook Park woman joined her daughter on a path toward college degrees.
THREE YEARS ago, Christina Morton went back to school to get her GED, hoping for a promotion in her job helping people with intellectual disabilities. Her daughter Mellitta Bailey was already enrolled at Community College of Philadelphia, on course to become a registered nurse.
But Morton got injured at her job, tearing both the ACL and meniscus in her left knee, and stopped working to recuperate. That's when Bailey suggested her mother enroll in CCP, too.
"She encouraged me," said Morton, who enrolled in 2013.
Last Saturday, the day before Mother's Day, Morton, 47, and Bailey, 27, graduated together with associate's degrees.
"I'm so ecstatic! And so humbled," Morton said this week. "Mellitta doesn't know it, but she inspired me to go back to school."
Morton graduated with high honors, earning As and Bs, with a degree in behavioral health and human services. She wants to get a bachelor's degree and become a social worker, and is reviewing programs at three area universities: La Salle, West Chester and Alvernia, in Reading.
Bailey, who already was a certified nursing assistant, graduated with a degree in science and technology. She hopes to go on to either Harcum College or Gwynedd Mercy University to earn a bachelor's degree in nursing.
Both women worked part time at two jobs while going to college. And at one point, Bailey said, she worked three jobs while her husband was attending electrician's school, and she helped care for a son, 10, and a daughter, 5.
Bailey and Morton also both had part-time work-study jobs at CCP's Northwest Regional Center in Fern Rock.
Bailey, who lives in Fern Rock, said she started at the Northwest Regional Center because it's within walking distance of her home. She said that seeing the college every day inspired her.
Morton, who lives in Overbrook Park, said she chose to take most of her college classes at the Northwest Regional Center because she felt more comfortable on the smaller campus.
Anthony Driggers, the regional center's director, said it's not unusual for multiple family members to study at the campus, on Godfrey Avenue near 13th.
"In large part, a great deal of our recruitment is due to word of mouth," Driggers said. "Someone goes home and shares their experience with Mom or Dad, or siblings or cousins."
Driggers also said almost everyone knows everyone else - if not by name, by face. "People find that setting to be nurturing and comfortable," he said.
Despite being close to Broad Street, the campus has a quiet, almost suburban, feel.
Both women also share the ability to work past personal problems and obstacles, said Anne Francis, assistant professor in the center's Learning Lab, where Morton worked.
"What's just amazing about [Morton] is how resilient she is," Francis said. "She's had to work through some massive obstacles in her life."
Like back in 2014, when Morton's parents died within weeks of one another.
"My husband told me I should probably take a medical leave from school," Morton said. "But I knew, if I stopped going to school, it would be hard to finish."
Francis said of Morton: "She has that kind of commitment and discipline. She doesn't kid herself about how she feels, that she's feeling sad. But she can move on despite that, putting those feelings aside."
215-854-5987 @ValerieRussDN
